So who all here homeschools, and why style or system do you use?
I just thought a little chit-chat amongst all the sales would be grand.
Annabelle is almost two and a half and we have been doing Waldorf for a long time. I just checked out "The Well Trained Mind" and that system seems better for Annabelle since she looks like she'll be an early reader. I'm trying to mesh the two so that it's a bit of both. We'll be doing the corse they have laid out with a bit of Charlotte Mason and a whole lot of handicrafts thrown in.
Currently it's just learning all the upper case letters, which she knows most of. There is lots of free play and going out of the house to the park. I try and stick to a rhythm as much as I can, and we do a circle time.
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Elizabeth
Mama to Annabelle who is making me feel ancient now that she's EIGHT!
I believe this is my 9th year of homeschooling. My two oldest are graduated from homeschool and are in college...and TODAY is my 17 year old's first day of college! I can't wait until she gets home and I can hear all about it.
I'm now homeschooling my 6 year old, and my 3 year old joins in. We are loosely doing Five in a Row. My approach through the years was a "relaxed" style that involved lots of reading, reading, reading...and I stressed volunteerism as well as took advantage of apprenticeship opportunities. We did Math too, but an incredible amount of our schooling came from reading quality books.
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~~~~~Melony~~~~~ Cherishing memories of my Kent, who went to Heaven 9/23/05. Mama to five (I've given birth 3 times & adopted twice! Love 'em all!)
This has been our first year of homeschooling Lauren, who is in 7th grade. Actually, we are more a part of a "cottage" school, as she does most of her work with two other 7th grade girls. She's a self-starter and does most things on her own.
This will probably be our only year of homeschooling, though That's a long story that I'll post sometime in the future when I have more time to type.
My four year old tells everyone she goes to "Home School!" when they ask her if she goes to school...
Our method? Madness LOL. Really I do very little schooling with her, mostly my method is reading to her, talking to her, answering her questions and letting her play educational computer games when I am working.
She is reading simple books and signs (like gas, stop, walk, etc) in English and knows most of her Hebrew alphabet as well. I did start doing some structured projects to get her Hebrew skills up to par with her English.
My mother gave my daughter toy money which has been a lot of fun for both of us, she is doing well with her money concepts. My dd loves counting and can count up to 100 already, we used to count in the car when we were waiting for my dh's train. Her math is also coming along, she understands and is good at addition, subtraction and fractions. Most of that was picked up through real life which I think is great.
We do a lot of cooking and reading together and we talk and paint and do projects but I guess she is mostly unschooled.
I am not sure she is going to go to school until second grade for a variety of reasons. I probably should have a real ciriculum before then!!
Any ideas!!
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שלןם
Liba, mommy to:
Zlata Tova 5/6/98, Tziporah Faiga 1/12/01, Esther Rivka 7/13/04 and Avraham Chaim 7/02/06
Avraham Chaim and Flat Stanley vegetable shopping.
Location: the past is just that, the past. letting it all go.
Posts: 15,629
my name is branwyn (27) i hs my almost 7 year old and i was hsed myself.
we are relaxed homeschoolers (not unschoolers) and we have 4th grade calvert (we do not follow the lesson plan) and developmental math as well as easy grammar.
this is our 15th year. Three down, three to go. We use, for lack of better term, a modified Socratic method. Love it...cant imagine ever doing anything else.
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Susan@RoseCottage
Savonnière who Plays in the Dirt
I have a 7, 4 and 2 yr old and we homeschool.
I do not know what approach we use.
We use a variety of different things.
Right now for my oldest, we are using:
Explode The Code, phonics
Miquon Math
We have a little workbook for Map Skills
For science, we have picking subjects and hitting the library and finding books on that subject. If possible, we tie in a field trip or experiment.
For social studies, we just started reading about Native American history. I think we wil be in this subject for a while.
My dd loves to talk about travel and different countries/cultures, so we do a lot of reading about this!
For Spanish, we have Power Glide for children and we check-out Spanish videos and books from our library.
I am getting ready to add some music instruction to her schedule. I had planned on starting music earlier, but life caught up on me!
I believe my 4 yr old needs something a little more structured. I am looking into a curriculm for him.
Right now, I have some workbooks for him and our youngest child.
Hope
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Mom to Ettie, Drake, Isabella, and Jasmine
We are homeschooling my 7 year old dd while waiting for a place in our 1st grade Waldorf....
Last year we used FIAR loosely.....but read tons of books and followed my dd's lead on where to go.
I've been loosely following "The well trained mind" of classical education this year. We have a 3 family co-op of history and I love love love their program!!! Can't say enough about it. It's called "story of the world".
My just 4 yr old ds just follows along in what he's interested in.
I had never heard of the Socratic method until this thread! I looked it up and it looks great, but like something that would be good around the teen years. How do you apply it?
We're going to continue to keep Sam (3) at home, and plan to have him learn using an eclectic, largely child-led approach. Not radical unschooling, but not school-at-home. Somewhere in between.
He's advanced in some areas (taught himself to read at about 32 months), so we're able to use books as a primary resource for him when he finds a new interest. Other things we do: music with 'real' instruments whenever possible, arts'n'crafts, all sorts of museums, cooking, city hiking, nature hiking, library, etc. I find it easy to do the home ed thing in a city - there are so many resources, as well as a very supportive home/unschooling community.
this year I only have my 2yr old at home. He knows colors, shapes, misc. other tidbits. One of my older kids is at a parochial middle school this year(tho we aren't religious) and the other is at a delightful public school (4th grade)
Dh and I discuss what sort of schooling the kids will have year to year.
With my older kids during homeschooling.....dh & I developed our own curriculum based on The Well Trained Mind, State Guidelines and family whims!
My boys that are school age are homeschooled, and the others will be, if things continue as planned. We use a variety of things, finally landing on Tapestry of Grace for our skeleton this year, building the other subjects around it.
I try to be relaxed with the younger set, mainly teaching them to read so they can delve into other interests by reading.
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mom to 6 boys and 1 girl, almost 15yo to the newest, born 1/27/05
I have been reading about different approaches, intrigued by some, loving others, doing unit studies when we are interested, doing workbook style thing when we are not. . .
I actually sat down with my oldest dd the other night and we made a list of all of the things she feels that she has learned this first year od "school". Funny thing? the things she learned on her own outnumbered the things I taught her 2 to 1. I was teaching her how to add single digit numbers, she told me that she can add double digits and do some light multiplication. . .
So she and I decided on a "guided unschooling" aproach for the rest of the year. I gave her a list of what I expect a first grader to have mastered, she can decide when and how to work on things, and I am always available to help with a project, drive to the library, or just talk. I can't wait to see how this unfolds. . . I think it's gonna be a wild ride!
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Jennifer
Mom to 3 daughters
9, 7, and 4
DD just turned 4 years old and we are almost done with the Kindergarden material. LOL We unschool. What ever is her passion at the time, we immerse ourselves in the subject. Right now, it's Mermaids, Selkies, Native Americans, volcanos, and Magic Tree House books. LOL
My dh tends to get a little worried sometimes that we should be more stuctured. But, I like the freedom of unschooling. At least for right now. Plus, it's working out great with dd. She's thriving on it.
As for additional things, my dd has been riding horses for almost a year, so that's a big part of our time. We also visit the library 2-3 times a week, go to preschool story time, and rotate other classes in and out of our schedule (Kindermusik, Gymnastics, Yoga, etc). We also have a homeschool play group that meets once a week and does group trips together. Whew, that sounds like a lot! LOL Now, I'm tired just typing all that.
Anyway, we love homeschooling and hope to continue through my dd's entire education.
That's a long story that I'll post sometime in the future when I have more time to type.
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